Assembled 2009-05-07 Chris Wuestefeld

Windows Search Advanced Query Syntax Cheat Sheet

Search Syntax
author:patrick

Finds items with patrick in the author property.

author:(patrick hines)

Finds items with patrick in the Author property.

author:(patrick OR bob)

Finds items with patrick or bob in the Author property.

author:patrick bob
from:patrick
before:10/9/2007

Finds items with patrick in the Author property and bob anywhere in the document.
Finds items with patrick in either fromName OR fromAddress, since "from" is a property
name for both fromName and fromAddress.
Finds items whose PrimaryDate field contains a date before 10/9/2007.

after:10/9/2007

Finds items whose PrimaryDate field contains a date after 10/9/2007.

report has:attachment

Finds items containing the word report that have attachments.

Same as hasattachment:true
Finds items that have attachments containing the word report.
Same as isattachment:true

report is:attachment

Numbers and ranges

Date range

Property followed by two dates, e.g., from:david sent:11/05/06..11/05/07

Relative dates
Multiword relative dates

Today, tomorrow, yesterday

This week, next month, last week, past month, or coming year. Can also be entered
contracted, as follows: thisweek, nextmonth, lastweek, pastmonth, comingyear
Sunday, Monday ... Saturday
January, February ... December

Days
Months

Size and Date Ranges

Searches for files with a value in the Size between50 KB and 70 KB, excluding the end values.
size:>=50KB <=70KB
Searches for files with a value in the Size property between 50 KB and 70 KB, including
the end values.
size:50KB..70KB
Same as size:>=50KB <=70KB
date:>2/7/05<2/10/05
Searches for a date in the Date property between the values 2/7/05 and 2/10/05, excluding the end dates.
date:>=2/7/05<=2/10/05
Searches for a date in the Date property between the values 2/7/05 and 2/10/05, including the end dates.
date:2/7/05 .. 2/10/05
Same as date:>=2/7/05<=2/10/05

Search for objects of a given type

Properties for all object types

Query objects of a given type by using kind property

Communications
kind:communications
Contacts
kind:person, kind:contacts
E-mail
kind:email
IM conversations
kind:im
Meetings
kind:meetings
Tasks
kind:tasks
Notes
kind:notes
Documents
kind:docs
Music
kind:music, kind:song
Pictures
kind:pics, kind:pictures
Videos
kind:videos
Folders
kind:folders

title, subject, about

status
date
datemodified, modified
importance, priority
size
deleted,isdeleted
isattachment
to, toname
cc, ccname
company
category
keywords
album
filename, file
genre
author, by
folder, under, path
ext, fileext
tag, keyword
type

Folder name
Programs
Recorded TV
Link
Journal entry

foldername:mydocs
kind:programs
kind:tv
kind:link
kind:journal

Booleans
Boolean operators (NOT, OR, AND) must be
in all UPPERCASE letters.

title:manager
status:active
date:lastweek
modified:lastweek
importance:high
size:>50MB
isdeleted:true
isattachment:false
to:johnsmith
cc:david
company:adventure-works
category:business
keywords:sports
album:greatest
filename:2006hits
genre:jazz
author:david
folder:adminstration
ext:.rtf
tag:personal
type:image

More: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/desktopsearch/default.mspx

Properties for kind=Communications

Properties for kind=Docs

from, organizer
received, sent
subject, title
hasattachment,
hasattachments
attachments,
attachment
bcc, bccname
bccaddress, bcc
ccaddress, cc
flagstatus,
flagstatus:followup
toaddress, to
duedate, due
read, isread
iscompleted
incomplete
hasflag, isflagged
duration

comments
lastsavedby
documentmanager
revisionnumber
datelastprinted
slides

from:simon
sent:yesterday
subject:budget
hasattachment:true
attachment:presentation.ppt
bcc:michael
bccaddress:mike@contoso.com
ccaddress:mike@contoso.com
flagstatus:unflagged,
flagstatus:completed
toaddress:mike@contoso.com
due:10/15/2008
isread:false
iscompleted:true
incomplete:true
hasflag:false
duration:>120

Properties for kind=Contacts

jobtitle
imaddress
assistantsphone
assistantname
profession
nickname
spouse
businesscity
businesspostalcode
businesshomepage
callbacknumber
carphone
children
firstname
lastname
homefax
manager
pager
businessphone
homephone
mobilephone
officelocation
anniversary
birthday

jobtitle:manager
imaddress:luis@xyz.com
assistantsphone:555-1212
assistantname:roberto
profession:accountant
nickname:louis
spouse:susana
businesscity:redmond
businesspostalcode:98052
businesshomepage:www.xyz.com
callbacknumber:882-8080
carphone:555-1212
children:anna
firstname:maria
lastname
homefax:555-1212
manager:carlos
pager:882-8080
businessphone:555-1212
homephone:555-1212
mobilephone:882-8080
officelocation:red/101
anniversary:yesterday
birthday:tomorrow

Properties for Calendar items

isrecurring, recurring
organizer, by, from
location

isrecurring:true, recurring:true
organizer:jonas
location:calgary

Restrict by file store

Files

store:file

Offline Files
Outlook
Outlook Express

store:csc
store:mapi
store:outlookexpress

comments:excellent
lastsavedby:josh
documentmanager:jonas
revisionnumber:4a
datelastprinted:yesterday
slides:>20

Properties for kind=Music

bitrate
artist, by
year
album
genre
lyrics
#, track
year

bitrate:>150kbps
artist:U2
year:1977..1987
album:"greatest hits"
genre:rock
lyrics:"happy birthday to you"
track:12
year:>1980<1990

Properties for kind=Pictures

cameramake
cameramodel
dimensions
orientation
taken, datetaken
width
height
flashmode

cameramake:nikon
cameramodel:eclipse
dimensions:8x10
orientation:landscape
taken:last, datetaken:today
width:33
height:66
flashmode:no flash

Properties for kind=TV

broadcastdate
channel
closedcaptioning
datereleased
episodename

broadcastdate:2005
channel:7
closedcaptioning:true
datereleased:2007
episodename:zeppo

Properties for kind=Videos

name, subject
Ext, filext

name:vacation, subject:hawaii
ext:wma filext:wma

Wildcards
Adding the asterisk (*) in your search term uses a
wildcard for a string of letters or numbers, whereas
the question mark (?) is a single character wildcard.

File types
Full contents: folder, bat, c, cmd, cpp, cxx, Dif, disco, doc, dot, eml, h, hpp, htm,
html, hxx, idl, inc, inf, inx, js, mht, msg, nws, one, pl, pot, ppa, pps, ppt, pwz, rc,
reg, resx, rtf, slk, txt, url, vbs, vcf, xla, xld, xls, xls, xlt, xlv, xlw, xlw, xml, xsl
Name+Metadata: 3ds, a11, aac, acf, ade, adp, ai, aif, aifc, aiff, amf, ani, anm, art,
ascx, asf, asm, asp, aspx, asx, au, avi, awm, b&w, b1n, b8, bga, bit, bld, bm, bmp,
b_w, cab, cda, cdf, cdr, cmp, cmv, Com, cpl, cps, cs, css, csv, cur, cvs, dcx, def,
dfs, dib, dic, dip, dkb, dss, dvi, dw2, dwg, emf, eps, far, fh3, fh4, fit, flc, fli, gcd,
gif, gl, gsd, gz, hhc, hrf, hs2, hsi, iax, ica, icb, ico, ics, idq, ivf, ivf, jas, jff, jfif, jnt,
jpc, jpe, jpeg, jpg, jtf, latex, lbm, lnk, m1v, m3u, mapiipm.Note, mda, mde, mid,
midi, mmm, mov, mp2, mp2v, mp3, mpa, mpc, mpd, mpe, mpeg, mpg, mpp,
mpt, mpv, mpv2, mpx, msp, mus, mwf, nc, neo, odc, okt, p16, pct, pcx, pda,
pdd, pdf, pgm, pix, pl, pm, pm5, png, ppm, ppz, ps, psd, pse, psm, pt5, qdv, qt,
ra, ram, rgb, rif, rip, rix, rl4, rl8, rle, rmi, rtx, s3m, scd, sch, sg1, snd, sng, stm, tar,
tex, tgz, tif, tiff, tsp, tsv, ult, uw, van, vcard, vcs, vda, vdr, vdx, voc, vsl, vst, vsw,
vsx, vtx, vue, wav, wax, wbk, wiz, wks, wm, wma, wmf, wmp, wmv, wmx, wmz,
wri, wsz, wtx, wvx, xif, xlb, xlc, xlk, xll, xlm, xm, xmi, xml, xpm, z, zip